She’s kept that vow in her first 15 months as Boone County state’s attorney.

But the real proof of her promise to accept fewer reduced pleas on the most serious felony charges starts now. All but one of the Class X cases disposed of by Courier’s team thus far were charged under former State’s Attorney Jim Hursh. She’ll now have to prove she can make her own Class X charges stick.

“If the prior administration had a substantially better conviction rate than you do, that’s going to be brought out by your opponent when it comes time for re-election,” said Paul Cain, managing attorney of the Zeke Giorgi Legal Clinic.

It was Courier who brought out conviction rates during a sometimes heated campaign to unseat incumbent Hursh. She accused him of taking too many plea deals on Class X felonies, which are among the most serious charges.

A Register Star analysis of Courier’s first 15 months shows that 59 percent of defendants charged with Class X felonies retained that charge when the case reached fruition. That’s 12 percentage points higher than the numbers Hursh posted during his four-year term.

In only one of the 22 Class X cases disposed of since Dec. 1, 2008, was the charge authorized by Courier. Her team took that charge all the way to a bench trial and got the Class X conviction and a 10-year prison sentence.

Courier wants to send the message that her office is willing to go to trial if their offer isn’t accepted. They tried 64 percent more jury trials last year than in 2008, she said. Her team tried 50 percent more — 24 compared with 16 — jury trials than her predecessor’s first year.

“It shows that we have confidence and that we believe in what we’re doing,” she said. “It sends a clear message to them that we’re not just pleading a case because we don’t want to try the case.”

Her team prosecuted five bench trials and one jury trial of the Class X felonies disposed of since taking office.

One of those bench trials ended with a not guilty verdict after a witness for the prosecution didn’t testify. The court found the defendant guilty of a lesser domestic battery charge, which carried no prison time.

“That’s just one of the risks you take” with a trial, Cain said.

It’s prison time, not pleas, that the public cares about most, Cain said.

Class X felony charges carry a possible sentence of 6 to 30 years in prison.

“Most people in the community are more interested in what is the punishment, what is the sentence, as opposed to the number of plea bargains entered into,” he said.

Courier is slightly ahead of her predecessor’s pace in that regard, too. The average defendant serves 6.5 years in prison on cases that began with Class X charges, regardless of their plea, under Courier’s watch. That average was 6 years in prison under Hursh’s four years.

Legal experts say there’s no magic number to determine how many plea deals should be taken. But Courier pulled no punches in saying her predecessor’s rate of plea deals was too high.

She had said during the campaign that only 32 percent of the Class X felony charges Hursh filed resulted in Class X convictions. Hursh, in return, called that figure “bunk” and said he would quit if the number was accurate. It wasn’t. A Register Star analysis, which covered a different timeline than Courier’s statistics, had that number at 47 percent.

Hursh said numbers can’t be focused on, only each case individually.

“I stand by every decision that was made when I was state’s attorney,” said Hursh, the current Republican nominee for Boone County’s resident judge.

But while Class X felonies took the spotlight in feisty debates, it was far from Courier’s only platform. She also vowed to be tough on gangs.

That would be done by way of a Gang Task Force, she said at the time. But she’s since taken an approach to fighting gangs that is uncommon, but highly praised by law enforcement.

Courier launched a civil suit against one of Boone County’s most notorious gangs, the Latin Kings. The suit attempts to use the Illinois Street Gang Terrorism Omnibus Prevention Act as a means to stop gang members from associating with each other.

The trial, which continues March 22, has been turbulent at times with eight alleged gang members representing themselves. The suit originally named more than 30 defendants, but the number was whittled after nearly 20 agreed to court orders to cease their association with the group and others were dismissed because they were juveniles.

Defendants, the alleged gang members, have called the act unconstitutional because it prevents their right to assemble and free speech.

Whether the state wins the case or not, it proves a point that gangs aren’t welcome in Boone County, Belvidere police Sgt. Mark Pollock said.

“Not only have the Latin Kings been put on notice, but all other gangs as well,” Pollock said. “This sends a message ... to gang members in Boone County that the state’s attorney is taking a very serious stand against gang activity, and we’re maintaining a zero tolerance approach to gang activity that we’ve had since the early ’90s when the gang intervention unit was started.”

Courier also spotlights an 11-year prison sentence for a gang member convicted of driving a vehicle in a shooting and a 14-year prison sentence for one who shot a rival gang member as evidence of her tough stand against gangs.

Courier also promised a tough stand on drunken driving.

“We routinely try drunken driving charges and do not bargain them away by reducing or dismissing them,” Courier said.

Courier said members of her team are instructed not to take lower pleas without her authorization.

“I have a no reduction/dismissal policy unless justice requires and unless you consult with me first,” Courier said. “So far, we haven’t dismissed a DUI or reduced it unless it we absolutely had to for the fact that it should never have been brought to begin with.”

Staff writer Kevin Haas can be reached at khaas@rrstar.com or 815-987-1354.

Editor's note: Comments were removed from this story because some comments contained information that could not be verified. Also, we were concerned about the identity of the commenters of these posts.

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